# How many states had slavery and when was it outlawed?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 17, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830 "2001-07-17T19:20:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/1 "2001-07-17T19:20:51Z")
Common public opinion holds that only states in the Confederacy had slavery. Most of us on this board know that this was not true. However, I was even suprised to see that the town where our family farm is located in New Hampshire had slaves listed on the 1790 census. I would have never guessed that New Hampshire ever allowed slavery. This made me wonder: Which states allowed slavery at one time and when was it outlawed by state?
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2001, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/2 "2001-07-17T19:57:02Z")
Some dates:
Vermont – 1777
Pennsylvania – 1780 (gradual)
Massachusetts – 1783
Rhode Island – 1784 (gradual – for anyone born after a certain date that year)
New Jersey – 1810 (some sources say this was the last Northern state, but the dates show otherwise).
New York – 1827
Connecticut – 1848
Couldn’t find New Hampshire.
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2001, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/3 "2001-07-17T20:00:24Z")
While I am tempted to say that the Emancipation Proclamation put an end to slavery, I don’t think that it carried the force of law. I am going to say that the 13th amendment (1865) put the kibosh on slavery once & for all.
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### Author:  [@Protesilaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Protesilaus)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/4 "2001-07-17T20:14:32Z")
Well, the Confederate states had slavery forcibly outlawed in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation. In Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland, slavery became illegal on December 6, 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment. The [Northwest Ordinance](http://www.ohiokids.org/ohc/history/h_indian/document/nword.html) of 1787 outlawed slavery in the Northwest Territory, which would eventually become Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Vermont and Maine entered the Union as free states in 1791 and 1820. So the only states that had slavery but outlawed it early would be the northern original colonies. There’s some confusion about exactly when this happened in some states.
Pennsylvania - 1780
Massachusetts - 1783
Connecticut - 1783
Rhode Island - 1783
New Jersey - 1786
New York - 1799
[http://www.cocc.edu/karenk/resources/african/aatimeline.htm](http://www.cocc.edu/karenk/resources/african/aatimeline.htm)
[Here](http://historymatters.gmu.edu/text/3freedom-wilson.html) says that all northern states had outlawed slavery by 1808. I can’t find an exact year for New Hampshire, but it’s somwhere around the same time as Massachusetts, I believe.
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2001, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/5 "2001-07-17T20:23:18Z")
Outlawed by state? Whoops… didn’t see that part.
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2001, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/6 "2001-07-17T20:48:55Z")
AFAIK the Emancipation Proclamation was little more than a symbolic action, because it specifically only addressed those states and counties that were still in rebellion, i.e., not yet returned to Union control. Wouldn’t slaves in those areas still have had to live and work as slaves until the 13th amendment was ratified?
[_Lincoln_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068482535X/qid=995402394/sr=2-3/103-3205860-4175803), by David Herbert Donald, says that in the years leading up to the Civil War, politicians on both sides of the slavery issue tried to solve the matter diplomatically. One of various schemes that were proposed for gradually ending the practice of slavery had a final abolition date of 1920! Our country is still working through a variety of civil rights and social justice issues; the mind boggles at what the situation would be like if slaves had still existed that recently.
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2001, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/7 "2001-07-18T00:50:22Z")
According to this map
[http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/FreeImages.asp?ImageId=234](http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/FreeImages.asp?ImageId=234)
Which isn’t identified very well, New Hampshire has an abolition date of 1783.
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### Author:  [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/8 "2001-07-18T02:13:02Z")
Bear in mind that the 13th Amendment only put an end to chattel slavery. Debt slavery continued well into the twentieth century.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/9 "2001-07-18T02:34:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by javaman \*
> **AFAIK the Emancipation Proclamation was little more than a symbolic action, because it specifically only addressed those states and counties that were still in rebellion, i.e., not yet returned to Union control. Wouldn’t slaves in those areas still have had to live and work as slaves until the 13th amendment was ratified?**
Well, for all practical purposes, yes, but because the U.S. didn’t consider the confederacy a seperate nation, the Emancipation Proclamation was legally binding, just not immediately enforcable.
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### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2001, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/10 "2001-07-18T03:15:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \*
> \*\*Couldn’t find New Hampshire. \*\*
It’s between Vermont and Maine.
Glad I could help. 😃 😃
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### Author:  [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2001, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/11 "2001-07-18T10:56:43Z")
What about DC? I thought I read somewhere that the slave markets were still in business after the proclamation, and had to be taken out of business by a separate declaration of Congress. The same, I think, applied to those areas of the South under Union control or which had not seceded, like MD and DE.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2001, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/12 "2001-07-18T12:08:28Z")
Just so everyone knows, the Emancipation Proclamation only ‘outlawed’ slavery in states _then in a state of revolt against the Union._ It didn’t have any real force behind it because, well, would the CSA listen to what Lincoln said about giving up slaves? The EP forced the issue of slavery to the fore and prevented Europe (England in particular) from helping the CSA. It was a master stroke by Lincoln and went a long way towards ensuring Southern defeat.
Just thought I’d chime in here.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2001, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/13 "2001-07-18T17:49:11Z")
I surprised that dates for the abolition of slavery are so difficult to pin down for all of the Northern states. In particular, I am confused as to why New York has several different dates reported and New Hampshire has not been found at all. Does anyone have the Straight Dope on this?
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2001, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/14 "2001-07-20T06:14:31Z")
**Delaware** 😃
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### Author:  [@Protesilaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Protesilaus)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2001, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/15 "2001-07-20T14:14:46Z")
[http://www.religioustolerance.org/sla\_hist.htm#A19](http://www.religioustolerance.org/sla_hist.htm#A19)
It seems that Delaware (and West Virginia, which I also forgot) allowed slavery until the Thirteenth Amendment.
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### Author:  [@Race\_Bannon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Race_Bannon)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2001, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/16 "2001-07-20T22:39:05Z")
/hijack/
I always wonder about this-
The Emancipation Proclamation did not really _outlaw slavery_, but it did _set slaves free_ “henceforth and forever”, in the rebelious states (except for Union-occupied territory). This means that, for example, there would be no slaves in Alabama (from Lincoln’s point of view) but that, after resumption of “normal” relation of Alabama to the Union, slavery could continue to exist. An Alabamian would just have to cross the line into occupied Tennessee and purchase a slave there, and bring him home. Why not?
I know the 13th amendment resolved this, but there was a period from Jan 1863 (EP effective) until mid 1864 (13th amendment ratification) that this situation was possible.
Also, recognize that the House rejected the Abolition amendment when it was first proposed, with no Southern states voting! What was up with that?
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2001, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/17 "2001-07-20T23:34:59Z")
The 13th Amendement was ratified in December of 1865 and was first sent to the state legislatures in February of 1865.
Most likely the initial rejection of the 13th amendment in Congress was a result of there being enough of an anti-war faction in Congress to block passage.
It wasn’t until Lincoln won reelection did the Republicans secure a death grip on Congress.
And even after the war, some states rejected the 13th Amendment, New Jersey, Delaware, Kentucky, and Mississippi.
I believe everybody buy Mississippi finally ratified the amendment. Does anyone know if Mississippi finally got on board?
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/18 "2001-07-20T23:51:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Derleth \*
> \*\*The EP … prevented Europe (England in particular) from helping the CSA. \*\*
How so?
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### Author:  [@Protesilaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Protesilaus)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2001, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/19 "2001-07-21T00:06:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by BobT \*
> \*\*And even after the war, some states rejected the 13th Amendment, New Jersey, Delaware, Kentucky, and Mississippi.
>
> I believe everybody buy Mississippi finally ratified the amendment. Does anyone know if Mississippi finally got on board? \*\*
From [here](http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Amend.html):
> [@](#):
>
> Ratification was completed on December 6, 1865.
>
> The amendment was subsequently ratified by Oregon, December 8, 1865; California, December 19, 1865; Florida, December 28, 1865 (Florida again ratified on June 9, 1868, upon its adoption of a new constitution); Iowa, January 15, 1866; New Jersey, January 23, 1866 (after having rejected the amendment on March 16, 1865); Texas, February 18, 1870; Delaware, February 12, 1901 (after having rejected the amendment on February 8, 1865); Kentucky, March 18, 1976 (after having rejected it on February 24, 1865).
>
> The amendment was rejected (and not subsequently ratified) by Mississippi, December 4, 1865.
It seems Mississippi has yet to do so.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2001, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-states-had-slavery-and-when-was-it-outlawed/72830/20 "2001-07-21T00:17:25Z")
I recall from my college days some maps showing certain counties in NJ still having slavery up till the War Between the States.Most likely the maps were wrong but wha about this?
What about the Indian Territory? I believe that allowed slaves.
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